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Why buy organic cotton

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What's all the buzz about organic cotton and why should we care?

Cotton - You love the feel of it against your skin. The scent of it, fresh from the dryer, the rich plush of thick Turkish towels in the bath. And who doesn't feel comforted the moment they crawl between freshly laundered cotton sheets? But what's all this buzz about organic cotton, and why should you care?

When I discovered that 25 percent of the world's pesticides--one-fourth!--go into growing just one crop, cotton, I was astonished. When I learned that those pesticides were killing the subsistence farmers and laborers growing the cotton, I started squirming on my sheets at night.

How could I continue taking advantage of human beings whose livelihood depends on my choices? I realized that the slight premium I have to pay for organic cotton products was well worth a good night's sleep on my uber comfy 300 count Egyptian cotton sheets if it meant saving lives of farmers and cotton laborers around the world.

Why buy organic cotton? Find out here. Plus, I've made it easy for you to test organic cotton clothing and items for your home with a generous selection of luxurious products that won't break the bank, are not damaging the environment, and best of all, are not harming anyone. You'll love the feel of organic cotton. So will your family.

Cotton blossom - Image courtesy Big Grey Mare

Contents at a Glance

Jump off the pesticide treadmill
Five important things you do when you bu...
Fashion designer Eileen Fisher uses orga...
Eileen Fisher uses organic cotton in man...
The stats are in! We're buying more orga...
5 more ways you make a BIG difference wh...

Only 2.4 percent--less than 3 percent of the world's agricultural land is used to grow cotton. That's not bad. But next time you pull that cotton onesie over your baby's head, think about this.

Growers spray 24 percent of the world's insecticides on their cotton fields. Then they add 11 percent of the world's pesticides. Many of these chemicals are known to cause cancer in humans.

When those crop dusters fly overhead, they spray everything in their wake, killing the good insects, spiders and birds that would normally gobble up the pesky cotton-nibblers, and exposing you and your baby, if you're in the neighborhood, to those same chemicals.

Because the natural predators are gone, opportunistic species flourish, further threatening the crop. Farmers apply even more pesticides to kill the new bugs, and the "pesticide treadmill" goes round and round, requiring ever harsher chemicals as the "bad bugs" develop stronger and stronger resistance.

But beautiful organic cotton can be grown in high yield crops too, and farmers all over the world are proving it. Learn how they're doing it on aboutorganiccotton.org

Data from Clothes for a Change
Image courtesy Big Grey Mare

Five important things you do when you buy organic cotton

Protect our fisheries
Runoff containing pesticides from cotton fields killed 240,000 fish in Alabama in 1995.

Prevent chronic health problems in Egyptian cotton workers
In the 1990s, fifty percent of Egyptian cotton workers suffered from chronic pesticide poisoning, including neurological and vision disorders.

Prevent health disorders in some of the poorest workers in the world
Chances are that famous-label tee shirt you're wearing was made in Bangladesh where ninety-one percent of Indian men working in cotton eight plus hours/day suffered illnesses related to chromosonal aberrations and cell death.

Save American lives
Each year, more than ten thousand Americans die from cancer associated with pesticides.

The life you save may be your own
A third of a pound of fertilizers and pesticides are used in the growth and production of every cotton t-shirt you pull over your head.

The information in this list came from Clothes for a Change

Fashion designer Eileen Fisher uses organic cotton

One of the things I like about Eileen Fisher is that many of her styles are available in plus sizes too, including a few of her organic cotton pieces. Learn more about her designers and what they like about organic cotton in this video.

The Peru Chronicles: Organic Cotton Farming & EILEEN FISHER: by EileenFisherInc | video info

1 rating | 544 views

curated content from YouTube

The stats are in! We're buying more organic cotton

Sales up 63 percent in 2008, according to Reuters

Reuters reports that 2008 sales totaled $8.2 billion and that farmers worldwide more than doubled their organic cotton production--up 152 percent. That's good news for the planet (fewer carbon emissions, better quality soil on 400,000 acres for generations to come), good news for the farmers and textile workers (less suffering, more lives saved), and good news for us--the consumers (better choices, lower prices).

Read the Reuters article, Global organic cotton sales up 63 percent in 2008, with thanks to Twitterers @PeopleForEarth and @ecotist for tweeting and retweeting about it.

5 more ways you make a BIG difference when you buy organic cotton

Eat healthy, stay strong!
What's in your cookies & chips? Read the labels: Carcinogenic pesticides and other additives are present in cottonseed oil and other byproducts of conventional cotton production, and our fat cells store them.

Eat healthy, stay strong II
Genetically engineered cotton has all kinds of stuff we've never eaten before: viral promoters, antibiotic-resistant genes, special bacteria.

Reduce premature death and suffering
Pesticide poisoning kills 20-40,000 people a year, says the World Health Organization (WHO). Three million suffer from pesticide-related disease.

Reduce cancer risks among California's ag workers and millions who breathe the air and drink the water
Five of the nine most-used pesticides on California cotton fields are carcinogenic (cyanazine, dicofol, naled, propargite and trifluralin).

Preserve Nature's insect predators--the good bugs
Pesticides and insecticides kill the good bugs--ladybugs, spiders, and parasitic wasps--who gobble up the bad bugs. When the bad bugs flare up again, farmers apply more poisons and the "pesticide treadmill" perpetuates.

The information in this list came from Clothes for a Change

India is a chief supplier of cotton

AND HERE'S WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO SUPPORT ORGANIC COTTON FARMERS

The Conventional Trap: by newinternationalist | video info

30 ratings | 13,061 views

curated content from YouTube

What's next to your baby's skin? Pesticide residues?

OR WHOLESOME, HEALTHY LUXURIOUS COTTON

Organic cotton just keeps getting softer and yummier the more you wash it. Try these mini togs on your precious one.

Five soft picks to keep your baby comfy--and safe--night and day

So many organic choices!

Why buy organic cotton

What's all the buzz about organic cotton and why should we care?

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Jump off the pesticide treadmill

Five important things you do when you buy organic cotton

Fashion designer Eileen Fisher uses organic cotton

The stats are in! We're buying more organic cotton

Sales up 63 percent in 2008, according to Reuters

5 more ways you make a BIG difference when you buy organic cotton

India is a chief supplier of cotton

AND HERE'S WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO SUPPORT ORGANIC COTTON FARMERS

What's next to your baby's skin? Pesticide residues?

OR WHOLESOME, HEALTHY LUXURIOUS COTTON

Five soft picks to keep your baby comfy--and safe--night and day

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New! Sound off!

How important is it to you to buy organic?

Are you willing to pay a little more for organic cotton to save lives, prevent child labor and protect the environment?

Yes! Part of my creed is to do no harm, so I make my purchases count and my voice heard in every dollar I spend, or nearly so.

Steve_Kaye says:

RenaissanceWoman2010 says:

Tipi says:

No. Even though I may be concerned for the workers, and appalled at child labor in sweat shops, I have to put my family and budget first.

Cotton teething toys for your baby

VEGGIES and FRUIT!

Watch your wee darling smile when you play together with these cuddly animals

Snuggle in for a nap or a night with these whimsical dolls

Get a colorful, printable fact sheet here

ALL THE FACTS ON ORGANIC VS CONVENTIONAL COTTON

More cuddly comfort - for Baby's bath

Pick your cotton carefully

DO YOU KNOW THE TRUE COST OF THE COTTON YOU'RE WEARING?

What do you think?

Will you buy organic cotton?

Thanks for voting! Now invite your friends to vote.

Enjoy the luxury of organic cotton in your home

Choose from a cornucopia of goods and add your own!

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Enjoy the luxury of cotton

in the bath

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Intimate organics

In the bedroom

Did organic agriculture save this community?

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